This section provides background information related to the present disclosure, which is not necessarily prior art.
A rack server, also called a rack mounted server, is a computer designed to be installed in a framework called a server rack. The rack contains multiple mounting slots called bays, each designed to hold heat producing electronic equipment, such as computer hardware (rack servers and other similar hardware systems, for example), telecommunications equipment, power equipment (protection, conditioner, transformers), industrial automation equipment, etc. The electronic equipment is secured in place with screws, rails, or other similar securing systems. The securing systems permit the electronic equipment to be quickly inserted and removed from the server rack. For example, rack servers and other similar hardware systems that are placed within the server rack are designed in a standardized manner, such that hardware provided from one company can be mounted in the same space as hardware from another company. Rack sizes are allocated as “rack units” or “U” units. Computing hardware is designed in multiples of this unit, such as 1 U, 2 U, 4 U, 8 U, or other similar multiples of the rack unit for installation in the server racks.
To cool the servers and other electronic equipment in the racks, internal cooling mechanisms, such as fans, integrated within most equipment draw cold air from the front side of the equipment and exhaust hot air out the back side of the equipment. To supply the cold air, data centers and companies employing server racks, for example, may maintain air conditioners that supply the server rooms with cold air to cool the computing components. However, these air conditioning systems typically cool inefficiently due to various factors (such as room layout, arrangement of the systems to cool the entire room, etc.) and are not designed for the specific number of computing systems being employed in the data center.
The present teachings include cooling systems for cooling heat producing electronic equipment, such as computer hardware (rack servers and other similar hardware systems, for example), telecommunications equipment, power equipment (protection, conditioner, transformers), industrial automation equipment, etc., that are more efficient, more compact, and more portable as compared to current cooling systems. The cooling systems according to the present teachings provide numerous additional advantages as described herein, and as one skilled in the art will recognize.